


Persistence

by Footloose



Series: Loaded March EXTRAS [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 09:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Footloose/pseuds/Footloose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The more Gilli takes up Merlin's time, the less that the rest of Excalibur will tolerate him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persistence

**Author's Note:**

> I've [opened up the floor to questions](http://loaded-march.livejournal.com/12506.html) or _want-to-see_ scenes in anything currently completed in the Loaded March series so far (up to Part 7).
> 
>  
> 
> Up until **Loaded March Part 6: Intermission** , Gilli has been monopolizing Merlin's free time -- time that he needs to rest and recover from Excalibur's missions. Arthur has noticed and doesn't like it one bit. The team has noticed, and they're going to do something about it.
> 
> Eak_a_mouse from LJ prompted the following scene: _More run-ins with Gilli when the team still thought he was just incompetent_
> 
>  
> 
> This occurs _before Gilli gets outed at the end of Intermission_.

* * *

 

"All right," Gwaine said, sliding next to Perceval at the table, glancing around the mess hall furtively. He leaned on one arm, practically crawling onto the table, and waved two fingers for the others to come closer. "So, our paper-pusher boys and girls have been _infinitely_ helpful, and, unfortunately, I come as the bearer of bad news."

Owain groaned. "Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it."

The team had asked, and Gwaine, in his infinite wisdom, had provided -- the terrible confirmation that Sergeant Gilli Merriam was not only definitely assigned to the communications branch, along with all the associated accreditations and clearances that were required, but also that the team would have a difficult time getting rid of him.

"There it is, then," Gwaine said, waving a helpless hand. He sat back down, brushing against Perceval. Perceval elbowed him off. "Not much we can do about it."

The table fell into an unnatural silence given the men sitting around it.

"No," Leon said. He frowned and scratched his chin. "We can't leave it at that."

"Merlin's exhausted," Lance shook his head. "Useless to us in this state. It's only luck we haven't been sent out on something..."

"Death-defying?" Owain supplied.

Everyone stared at him.

"What, isn't that the right word?" Owain asked.

"You know something? You lot have a point," Gwaine said. "We can't leave it at that. I have an idea..."

"Not another prank," Perceval said with something of a groan. "We nearly got ourselves sent to the brig after the last time --"

The last time involved a commander-approved base party after a particularly harrowing -- but successful -- mission, a keg of beer "borrowed" from the American contingent, and a Turkish tank. It went all sorts of wrongs, and _thank fuck_ every witness had been too drunk to recognize them.

Gwaine couldn't help but flash a grin.

"Nothing of the sort, I assure you," Gwaine said. "You'll love it. You lot remember when Arthur gave us the order to babysit Merlin?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Let's babysit him," Gwaine said, raising an eyebrow meaningfully. The only one who seemed to catch his meaning was Kay. Gwaine rolled his eyes and proceeded to explain his plan in excruciating detail.

Using small words.

 

ooOOoo

 

"Merlin!" Gilli said, bursting into E barracks without so much as a knock or a by-your-leave.

Leon stood up abruptly -- after Arthur, his cot was closest to the door, and as second-in-command, he was in charge whenever Arthur wasn't around. Since he had a few hours of liberty, he'd volunteered to take on the babysitting duties that Gwaine had handed out for the day. He could see Merlin groan, struggle into a sitting position, putting aside the e-Reader that he'd been studying.

Leon put on his most disapproving expression -- hardly difficult to do given the situation -- and crossed his arms, blocking Gilli's way. "Are you lost?"

"No, I'm just here for Merlin --"

Leon crossed his arms and cleared his throat. "Try that again."

"Sorry?"

"I said, try that again." Leon watched as Gilli's confusion deepened. He wasn't feeling charitable enough to point out what Gilli had done wrong. Even if it wasn't for the complete monopolizing of Merlin's free time -- time that Merlin hardly had to spare -- Leon would never allow the complete breach of protocol pass without notice.

Gilli's eyebrows pinched in the middle of his forehead, and he made a slight, _whatever_ gesture with his hand, blowing Leon off. He looked past Leon and said, "Merlin, a new communiqué came in, I'm having trouble with --"

Leon took a step closer, clamped a heavy hand on Gilli's shoulder, and squeezed hard enough to draw a hiss of pain from Gilli. "The next time you enter someone's barracks without invitation, you will be shot. The next time you address me as anything else but _sir_ , you will be shot. If you ever refer to Merlin as anything other than _Lieutenant Emrys_ , you will be shot. Do you understand?"

Gilli stared. "Yes. Um. Sir."

"Then get out," Leon said.

Gilli glanced past Leon in a plead that Leon didn't let him finish, turning him around to shove him out. The door smacked Gilli in the arse with a satisfying sound.

"Leon?" Merlin asked, uncertain. "Did Gilli want --"

"He just wanted directions to the loo. Bit of an idiot, that one," Leon said, collapsing down on his bunk. "Get some rack time, Merlin. We've got a training scramble later."

 

ooOOoo

 

"Merlin!"

"Yes?" Owain stood up from behind the testing bunker. He'd just gotten some new explosive material in, but the trigger was proving problematic. When he saw who'd called, his expression soured, and he wondered if anyone would notice if he used Gilli as target practice.

"You're not Merlin," Gilli said. "Is he here?"

"Yeah, I'm right here!" Merlin said, but he didn't get up. His hands were tangled in the mess of wires and electronics that Owain had shoved into his hands a few minutes ago. The only reason he wasn't standing up to Gilli's summons like he normally would might have something to do with the fact that half of the wires were still connected to the detonators that were stuck in the new type of plastique explosive that had been sent for him to test.

Owain might have mentioned that the material was a little sensitive.

"I need Merlin --"

"I'm afraid we all need Merlin, mate," Owain said, stepping aside just enough for Gilli to see the complicated mess that Merlin was in, wires and electronics and explosives and all. "Wouldn't want to distract him, now, would we?"

"It's important," Gilli insisted.

"What's more important than making sure the whole base doesn't get blown up in a mushroom cloud?"

"It's confidential," Gilli bristled.

Owain's brows raised in sympathy, but he turned Gilli around and marched him out of the bunker. "That's nice."

"You don't understand --"

"I understand one thing, and that's if we don't let Merlin work in peace and quiet, I'm not going to be the one who's going to have to explain to the base commander why there's a big bloody crater where his testing grounds used to be," Owain said, smiling.

Gilli's lips pressed in a thin line.

"Off you go," Owain said. He struggled not to grin at Gilli's sour look. He went back into the bunker. "How is it going?"

"I don't know what the wankers were thinking when they put this together," Merlin complained. "They've crossed the wires. Wouldn't take much for someone to rig a cell phone signal into triggering it by accident."

"Yes, I did notice that," Owain said. "So, is that bad?"

"No, not really," Merlin said, after giving Owain a long, _are you daft_ look. "So what did Gilli want?"

"He said something about needing help tying his shoelaces," Owain said, crouching down. "Need a hand with that?"

 

ooOOoo

 

"Merlin!"

Merlin groaned, flinched visibly, and his shoulders slumped. Perceval glanced past him to see Gilli trotting over behind them.

"I need your help with --"

"Can't it wait?" Merlin asked. He picked up a container and passed it with a grunt to Perceval. Perceval hauled it easily into the transport, where one of the duty personnel rolled it into place. "I'm a bit busy."

"I checked the duty roster and you're off right now," Gilli said.

"No, he's not," Perceval said, taking another canister from Merlin. He waved around them. "Obviously."

"I checked --" Gilli said, but Perceval cut him off.

"Duty roster's wrong."

"-- five minutes ago," Gilli said. "I spoke to the coordinator, and he says he doesn't know anything about Merlin --"

" _Lieutenant Emrys_ ," Perceval corrected, shifting out of the queue. Merlin shot him a look of that was either disapproval or outright relief, took over Perceval's spot, and moved to hand the box to the enlisted on the truck.

"-- working transport duty," Gilli continued, as if Perceval hadn't interrupted. "Plus, what's Merlin doing grunt work for, when there's blokes like you and that lot over there for it?"

"Captain Pendragon's orders," Perceval said amiably. It wasn't any secret that when not running missions, Arthur assigned duty to the team -- it was only fair if they pulled their weight in other areas of the camp so that other people could have a break.

"Well, that's just stupid," Gilli said.

"Pardon?" Perceval asked, putting a foot up on one of the containers, leaning an elbow on his knee, raising a brow. He tapped his ear. "Did I just hear you call my Captain stupid?"

Gilli blanched. "No, not -- I'm just saying, Merlin should be spending his spares out in the communication tent --"

"That may well be," Perceval continued, rubbing the dirt and grime from his hands. "But then we'd be leaving this bunch in a bit of a rut. They have a deadline to meet, and without _Lieutenant Emrys_ , well... If he's needed in the communications tent, and seeing as how he outranks both of us, and I outrank you, he could order you to replace him here --"

"I'm on duty," Gilli said thinly.

"Right, then get to it," Perceval said. "Keeping me from doing mine."

He turned his back on Gilli, picked up a crate one-handed, and gave it to Merlin. Merlin grunted under its weight, nearly dropping it before muscling it up -- with Perceval's help -- onto the back of the truck.

When Perceval glanced over his shoulder, Gilli had made it as far as the other side of the supply tents, glaring

He smiled genially and waved.

Perceval turned around and saw Merlin watching him, eyebrows raised. After a brief moment, Merlin nodded sharply. "Thanks."

 

ooOOoo

 

"Merlin --" Lance began, only to be interrupted.

"Merlin!"

Merlin's body tensed, he shut his eyes tight, and his shoulders rose to nearly his ears in frustration. His reaction was enough to tell Lance who it was. He sighed inwardly, and continued, "Hand me that, please."

He took the sterilized bandages from Merlin and shoved them in the med-kit. A few more items were added before he flipped the lid and fastened the latches. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just about, yeah," Merlin said weakly. He grimaced at the sound of footsteps coming closer.

"There you are," Gilli said. "I just received an encrypted message for the Colonel, and I don't recognize the code --"

"When do you ever?" Merlin muttered under his breath, loud enough for Lance to hear. Lance's lips twitched, but he managed not to laugh. Merlin half-turned, holding out his hand. "Let me take a look."

Gilli kept the piece of paper out of Merlin's reach. "I really need your help with this one. You should come to the comm-tent."

Merlin wrenched the piece of paper out of Gilli's hand and held it up, his eyes narrowing as he looked over the code header. "No, you don't. We went through this decrypt routine last week. You took notes. You can crack it."

"I can't find my notes," Gilli said. "And it's urgent --"

"I don't see an urgent stamp," Merlin said, handing the sheet to Gilli.

"That's because they called and bumped it up the queue," Gilli said.

Merlin's expression scrunched into something that bordered into the _that's impossible, that's preposterous, and that's a blatant breach of protocol_ that Lance interrupted with, "Then you'd best get on that. Come on, Merlin. We're going to miss our ride."

"Right," Merlin said, shouldering his pack. "Let's go, Lance."

"Where are you going?" Gilli asked, panicked.

"Mission," Merlin bit out, taking one of Lance's packs.

"But the Colonel -- this is important, Merlin --"

"So is this," Lance said, stopping in front of Gilli. "Bunch of our boys out of communications range under fire with injured. Like Merlin said, you've got this under control, but the boys? They need us out there."

"The Colonel said --"

"The Colonel can talk to the General. The General asked for both of us," Lance said, staying between Gilli and the door until he was sure that Merlin had escaped.

 

ooOOoo

 

There was a reason why Gwaine sat Merlin with his back to the door of the on-base canteen, why he had an extra beer on the table that he hadn't touched yet, and why he'd been steadily and persistently getting Merlin drunk.

Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with getting Merlin in the sack with him.

It seemed that Gilli was getting more persistent lately, if Arthur's aggravation was anything to go by. When Merlin had to admit that he had no excuse for not having completed the duties that Arthur had doled out for the day, Arthur's temper had been _phenomenal_. It wasn't until Leon put in that Gilli had hijacked Merlin when Merlin was on his way to the supplies tent to assist the quartermaster with the newest batch of Boxes that Arthur's temper turned from merely phenomenal to _catastrophic_.

Gwaine thought it only somewhat amusing that Arthur was having trouble properly expressing his feelings where Merlin was concerned. Excalibur's captain was a mother hen to the rest of the team on the best of days, but trot out the barest hint of a fair maiden in distress -- especially _Arthur's_ fair maiden -- and Arthur huffed smoke through his nostrils even worse than the dragon that threatened her.

Arthur was almost in the right frame of mind for Gwaine to tease out an admission of his true feelings for Merlin.

Almost. In his current mood, he might kill Gwaine while he was at it.

Gwaine kept Merlin distracted, but when Gilli's head popped through the doorway, Gwaine took the spare beer and shoved it at Merlin. Merlin, already seven sorts of miserable and well on his way to feeling even worse, took the beer without protest.

"Here you go, compliments of the house," Gwaine said cheerfully.

"Wer... Weren't that... There... b... fore?" Merlin hiccupped.

Gwaine raised a brow. A _cheap_ drunk. He'd known that about Merlin, but it was lovely to see, and definitely an important piece of information to be used against him at a later date. Not that he would. Not unless Arthur continued on being a clueless pillock --

"Merlin!" Gilli said.

Merlin belched.

"Ugh." Gwaine brushed the air out from in front of his face discreetly. He could smell the fish and chips he'd had for dinner.

"If you've come to drag Merlin away to do a little bit of ultra top-secret classified la-de-dah bollocks, which we all know is well and truly _bollocks_ ," Gwaine said, leaning back in his chair with an amused grin, blowing his bangs out of his eyes, "You might want to wait until he sobers up a bit."

Gilli took one exasperated look at Merlin before shooting glare at Gwaine, full of vile poison and sharp daggers. He stomped out without another word.

Gwaine grinned and leaned over the table, shoving the glasses aside. Now, how could he best take advantage of Merlin like this...

 

ooOOoo

 

"Mer--"

Kay stood up and blocked Gilli's way.

"Merlin's busy. Fuck off."

"But --"

Kay smiled. He cracked his knuckles one by one. He watched in satisfaction as Gilli stumbled backward and left.

 

ooOOoo

 

"He's a persistent bugger." Perceval rubbed his face in frustration.

Most of the team was out in the field, but the core group was there, in the mess hall, moving their forks through the potato mash and the soggy, sorry excuse that passed for meat. No one was even interested in trying to guess the mystery behind it.

"Short of breaking his legs --" Kay began.

"Let's not go that far," Leon said, shaking his head, but it wasn't as if he wasn't strongly considering doing that exact thing himself.

Gwaine looked around the table and snorted. "Seriously? You're giving up? I mean, there's more of us than there is of him. We'll wear him down... Scare him off. Keep at it, men. We'll save Merlin yet."

Perceval grunted.


End file.
